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Topic: Mega Man X6 Tweaks (v15) (Read 69557 times)

I found it weird how Dr. Light talks to both X and Zero with them having a mugshot but not Dr. Light himself, so it just kind of looks like X/Zero is thinking to himself (sorry for the stretched picture, it was the only one I could find that looked good):

So I decided to take a jab and made a mockup based on his Maverick Hunter X in-game artwork.

Top left is the base, top right is a dithered version to try and make it look more like a PSX sprite, bottom left has a glow effect, and bottom right is glow + dithering. It was an attempt. Obviously, the styles are somewhat clashing, but the only other option was X8, which is a very different style from the other X games, so MHX was the next best thing.

P.S. I remembered that this same thing happened with the reploids in the first stage too, but I have no reference for that one, so...

I have this on my wishlist too, so thanks for providing a Dr. Light mugshot. I'll give it a go eventually.Even though editing the images in the right format would be fairly easy, I haven't looked into what needs to be done code wise to insert it (let alone to animate it)

Too bad these Hunters don't match with the ones from the official art.

I have this on my wishlist too, so thanks for providing a Dr. Light mugshot. I'll give it a go eventually.Even though editing the images in the right format would be fairly easy, I haven't looked into what needs to be done code wise to insert it (let alone to animate it)

Too bad these Hunters don't match with the ones from the official art.

That doesn't seem like much of an issue. You could easily photoshop the orange-blue hunter as green and edit a bit of the details to make it look like the in-game green hunter (who looks quite similar), or just straight up edit the in-game sprites to reflect the original art if you want to. Either way, it's a good workaround.

If these portraits stand any chance of making it into these hacks, then I might try my hand at drawing some portraits once that possibility is confirmed. I did make my avatar, which is an extremely heavy edit of the X3 menu screen portrait of X with the X2 armor and a completely redrawn face in the style of X2's art, and I also submitted various bits of art to Justin3009's X3 Zero hack like these:

Replicating art styles is one of the few things I'm decent at doing art-wise.

Also, they need animated eyes and mouths like the other characters' portraits, as does the Dr. Light one.

I really love the work you did for the X3 Zero Project!I can't make any promises for Dr. Light and the Hunters as I haven't even given it a try yet and I don't know what kind of technical problems I might get adding and loading new mugshots to the game. I'll definitely get to it if I get you on board though.In the meantime, if you're interested, I'd love to see your take on the Ultimate Armor mugshot, so it doesn't look like he's bald and naked covered in black bodypaint...This would only involve replacing existing assets, something that can be implemented immediately.

I actually was planning on give it a go myself, but I'm pretty busy as it is already...For comparison, this is a recent official art for the same armor (made for MvC:I, I think).

I was thinking of replicating the shape and details from the helmet, shoulder pads, etc. from this artwork, while keeping the black/gold color scheme, the animated bits on the same tiles, and not changing the more adult face X has on this game for style consistency (even though I'm not a fan of it).March 06, 2019, 12:59:00 am - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)

Here's something interesting: by removing a single instruction that handles the jump to the wider resolution (write "000000" on $800128BC RAM, $1D923754 BIN), the game seems to stay at 4:3 all the time. I haven't tried this on real hardware, but judging by Beetle PSX's native screenshots, the output stays at 320x240, regardless of all the stuff that's being drawn outside...

Seems that all graphics assembly is unaffected; which means that THEORICALLY you could re-scale all assets and re-assemble everything to fit on the regular resolution. It would be a crime to downscale the cutscenes, but as we've seen from AxlRocks' mockups, the Stage Select/Parts screens could really benefit from this.Doable? Seems like it.Would it be worth doing all that work to make a couple of menus look nicer? Hmmm... Not right now, that's for sure. But it's something to consider after I finish everything else I've started.

The original has so many issues, from his neck area being oddly shaped, to the oversized crest on his forehead, the inconsistent light sources, and pillow shading making the gold trim fins on his shoulders look like rounded spikes.

Plus, the transparency of the armor was originally poorly conveyed and instead made it look like some weird leathery texture.

I tried to make the light sources consistent, and I tried to keep the simple anime style shading seen throughout the games' artwork, while also keeping the faint highlighting of the armor itself seen in that MVC:I art you posted, as well as the X4 Ultimate Armor artwork. I didn't have any specific concept art of X's parts under his armor for direct reference, but I tried to match the X Challenge armor art from the X legacy Collection and the D-Arts figure of the Ultimate Armor as best as I could at this low resolution.

Man, that's a huge improvement! Thank you so much!The highlights on the edges make a big different for its volume, now you can actually see it as an armor.The blurry "texture" the original has always baffled me, even when I played the game for the first time as a kid. It was very clearly done or touched up by someone other than the other mugshots' artist... Now it actually looks like it belongs in the set. It warms my heart.

As for minor nipticks, I think the size of the helmet could be moved up a pixel or two, as it still looks a bit too close to where a naked head shape would be.I touched up on it quickly to show you what I mean:

Let me know if you agree or if you want to apply the idea yourself, that'd be great.

By the way, I'm sorry I missed two tiles on the source rip I sent you, just a dumb oversight.Here's a better one. You can just ignore the gray and black areas.

So I took a jab at trying to make a mugshot for the green hunter and it went surprisingly well.

It was a bit hard to pull off, but I think I did well enough in the end.

Now to resize it into 78x64, and voila!

Top left is mouth open (from the original drawing), top right is some dithering + cleaning (to make it look like a PSX graphic), bottom left is mouth closed (one I edited it in because I thought it'd look nice), and bottom right is mouth closed + dithering/cleaning. Just a heads up, I wouldn't recommend using both the mouth open and closed sprites as the talking sprite as is, since the jawline doesn't actually move period, I just gave him a closed mouth because I thought it'd look better. Overall, I think it's good. I think there's an antenna I missed(?), but it's good enough for my limited skills (this took a while).

The original has so many issues, from his neck area being oddly shaped, to the oversized crest on his forehead, the inconsistent light sources, and pillow shading making the gold trim fins on his shoulders look like rounded spikes.

Plus, the transparency of the armor was originally poorly conveyed and instead made it look like some weird leathery texture.

I tried to make the light sources consistent, and I tried to keep the simple anime style shading seen throughout the games' artwork, while also keeping the faint highlighting of the armor itself seen in that MVC:I art you posted, as well as the X4 Ultimate Armor artwork. I didn't have any specific concept art of X's parts under his armor for direct reference, but I tried to match the X Challenge armor art from the X legacy Collection and the D-Arts figure of the Ultimate Armor as best as I could at this low resolution.

That. looks. great. You're spritework is pretty top-notch and it shows here. So nice and smooth, too, unlike some of the more jagged scans X5 and X6's in-game art can have sometimes. Good work!

Aside from minor tweaks like his neck and chest area, I added the backpack and fin from all of the artwork. Despite not being on the sprite outside of the Nova Strike, it's there in all of the artwork, and the old model kit it was designed for and the D-Arts have it, so I decided to add it.

Now if it can't be used because of technical reasons, or you don't want to use it, then I do have a version without it.

I also darkened and desaturated the main armor color because I felt it was too blue and too bright compared to the black/midnight blue palette used in X6, and it felt closer to the X4 colors (which I still prefer). I also made the gold the champagne gold of his X6 palette. I honestly forgot what the X6 Ultimate Armor looked like until I went back and looked at it. I do think it looks better than the oversaturated blue from X5 at least.

Thanks both of you. Danny, I think you did great with the Hunter sprite. Can't make any promises about being able to insert it, but I'm definitely gonna give it a try. Mugshot modifications was at the bottom of my to-do list, but I think I'll have to give it more of a priority now

Metalwarrior64, I like what you did with the colors, much closer to the actual sprite.I'm considering trying to add a palette variant for the Ultimate Armor where the light-gray bits are golden (like the mockups AxlRocks made), would be cool to have that as an addtional option, which would cover both the sprite and the mugshot. Let's see if I can pull it off.

As for the fin, I like that you decided to add it, and no problem adding both variants on the patcher! But if you're willing on further polishing it, I have a couple of suggestions: since it's (almost?) not visible in the sprite, I wouldn't have it stand out so much. I'd place it a bit lower, no higher than ear level, and would try give it a thinner edge. Also, you should avoid drawing the "front" edge as a straight vertical line, it's a bit distracting.

Beautiful work, guys. I'm somewhat undecided on whether I prefer the bright gold or champagne gold look more for the Ultimate Armor. The former is more faithful to the original design, while the latter complements the Black Zero armor so much better. Allowing the player to choose in the patcher is a great idea.

Speaking of the original design: if inserting the new Ultimate Armor sprites, palettes, and mugshots goes according to plan, would you consider including the original X4 Ultimate Armor look as an option in the patcher? I kinda miss that look whenever I'm playing X5 and X6. Granted, tweaking the weapon palettes to match would take a bit more work, but I think it would be worth it.

If it had better shading, I'd suggest the same option with the "X Challenge" armor (whatever it's called). It's a shame the artwork for that armor looks so much better than the in-game implementation in the Legacy Collection...

I feel just recoloring the Hunter from the artwork won't work because the design doesn't match, the light source doesn't match the other portraits, and the magenta one is in front, so he should be the one talking to X. I did trace part of it though, mostly because the poses matched.

It's still a bit of a work-in-progress, and I need to make the mouth animations as well, but I hope this will work. The helmet gem and embossed square were just my interpretation of the two pixels in the front of the sprite. I will at some point make a Dr. Light one with the proper light source.

I also have a tweaked Ultimate Armor portrait with the fin leaning forward slightly, which does help it blend in with the rest of the image, as well as making his pose look more dynamic since he is leaning forward a bit:

I also lowered it and moved it to the right a couple of pixels to make it look further back, and made it reach just one pixel above the top of his ears.

I also have a proposal for the Ultimate Armor palette:

In X6, the light blue limb segments are way too bright and saturated, even brighter than his palette's white, so it makes it look flat and gaudy. Also, his hand palette is way too dark, making his left hand look dark grey. The gold color is also slightly red, making it look weird, and there's not much contrast in the midnight blue-ish black color, making the details representing his inner mechanics too subtle.

I restored his hand colors to the X5 palette, as well as his light blue segments on his arms and legs. I also slightly brightened and increased the contrast of the extremely dark blue main color, and I made the gold segments slightly more towards actual champagne gold to match my portrait better, as well as black Zero.

I feel this works better than reapplying the Shadow Armor palette, as it continues to look unique, as well as keeping the intended aesthetic alive.

I feel just recoloring the Hunter from the artwork won't work because the design doesn't match, the light source doesn't match the other portraits, and the magenta one is in front, so he should be the one talking to X. I did trace part of it though, mostly because the poses matched.

It's still a bit of a work-in-progress, and I need to make the mouth animations as well, but I hope this will work. The helmet gem and embossed square were just my interpretation of the two pixels in the front of the sprite. I will at some point make a Dr. Light one with the proper light source.

I also have a tweaked Ultimate Armor portrait with the fin leaning forward slightly, which does help it blend in with the rest of the image, as well as making his pose look more dynamic since he is leaning forward a bit:

I also lowered it and moved it to the right a couple of pixels to make it look further back, and made it reach just one pixel above the top of his ears.

I also have a proposal for the Ultimate Armor palette:

In X6, the light blue limb segments are way too bright and saturated, even brighter than his palette's white, so it makes it look flat and gaudy. Also, his hand palette is way too dark, making his left hand look dark grey. The gold color is also slightly red, making it look weird, and there's not much contrast in the midnight blue-ish black color, making the details representing his inner mechanics too subtle.

I restored his hand colors to the X5 palette, as well as his light blue segments on his arms and legs. I also slightly brightened and increased the contrast of the extremely dark blue main color, and I made the gold segments slightly more towards actual champagne gold to match my portrait better, as well as black Zero.

I feel this works better than reapplying the Shadow Armor palette, as it continues to look unique, as well as keeping the intended aesthetic alive.

The mugshots I posted were more of a placeholder or base for actual sprite, so yeah, it'd probably be a better idea to make appropriate sprites. Although, supposedly it's the green hunter talking to X due to the Hunter name being green in the textbox during that scene (despite being plural, for some weird reason). Yeah, I think it'd be nice to see your take on the sprites, although I'm unsure if the PSX has any palette limitations like on SNES, so that should probably be kept in mind. Your proposals and changes to the Ultimate Armor are great, although I'd personally suggest to add a bit of similarity to the X4 armor for some nuanced continuity like maybe make the black a bit more blue, and maybe have the champagne gold show a slight hint of yellow. But as is, it's pretty solid.

If It's decided for the portrait to be the green Hunter, then I can change it to that with not much effort. I'll probably get around to doing it anyway.

I also like your idea of using the MHX Light portrait, though the light source is a bit off (heh), but not noticeably so (just a bit higher up). I don't like how wide his head is in the artwork, so I scaled it to make it thinner. then I rescaled it back to the game's resolution. I also have a WIP blinking animation:

I might also change the palette to the cyan colors that you gave it.

As for the Ultimate Armor, I think we should have a choice between maybe the original (though it technically has problems as I stated above. Mine basically "fixes" it), X4 or X5's and my corrected version. I wasn't out to aesthetically change it, rather just make the contrast and color balance much smoother and more in line with every other sprite in the series.

If It's decided for the portrait to be the green Hunter, then I can change it to that with not much effort. I'll probably get around to doing it anyway.

I also like your idea of using the MHX Light portrait, though the light source is a bit off (heh), but not noticeably so (just a bit higher up). I don't like how wide his head is in the artwork, so I scaled it to make it thinner. then I rescaled it back to the game's resolution. I also have a WIP blinking animation:

I might also change the palette to the cyan colors that you gave it.

As for the Ultimate Armor, I think we should have a choice between maybe the original (though it technically has problems as I stated above. Mine basically "fixes" it), X4 or X5's and my corrected version. I wasn't out to aesthetically change it, rather just make the contrast and color balance much smoother and more in line with every other sprite in the series.

That Dr. Light looks fantastic so far, so good job.

Yeah, maybe the alternate Ultimate colors could be an option for the patcher, and the default option in the actual hack would be the corrected colors you proposed. I just wanted to add nuance to the Ultimate Armor a bit, but now that I think about it, it'd be much simpler to just have an option for X4's Ultimate Armor.

I feel this works better than reapplying the Shadow Armor palette, as it continues to look unique, as well as keeping the intended aesthetic alive.

I really only used the Shadow Armor palette for assumed palette limitations on the parts menu. It could be some non-related sloppy rushjob Capcom did that caused all those issues, but I just assumed a shared palette to be safe. I should've been more clear, but what I meant when I said it would be better, was more like "The original blacks/champagne palette sucks" more than straight up use it, though I would've liked that too just out of personal disdain for the original. Reverting to X4/X5 would've also been preferable, but not necessarily the BEST option.

Should an option to match the old mugshot palette be possible, I'd actually keep your blacks with Shadow's gold, if not a new gold even. Played with the bare arm/leg color a bit too, X4's purple or a black/gray:

Top-left is Shadow (from parts menu), then Shadow's gold with your blacks, below "deep" gold, below that a more "Poppy"/shiny gold.EDIT 3-9: Thought a more "poppy"/shiny version might be better. Still not sure if I like it or the "deep" gold above it better.

As for the Ultimate Armor, I think we should have a choice between maybe the original (though it technically has problems as I stated above. Mine basically "fixes" it), X4 or X5's and my corrected version.

But there's the matter of the old mugshot palette too. Which was more rushed, a palette swap or the bad mugshot? Or is there official artwork of X6's Ultimate Armor? Not sure. Hard to say which is more "valid" otherwise.

EDIT: And yeah, I'm totally pulling for gold to be an extra option I'm just way more partial to the gold, even though your champagne is a lot better than Capcom's.

I'm really impressed and humbled by your work so far, Metalwarrior64. The last Ultimate update is a big improvement, and your pink Hunter and Dr. Light mugshots look as official as anyone could wish for. There's a few nipticks I'd like to comment on, but before I get involved on the art side of things I need to make sure I'm able to make this a reality.

I just dumped a big chunk of the code that reads and assigns mugshots. I'm off to dissecting it and figuring out how it works, and hopefully how to expand it. Wish me luck! And if I don't report for a several days, don't call the cops. It might take awhile.

On the topic of that, I wonder if there was an option to remove the Japanese dub in anyway or a possible English dub of sorts. Obviously, the latter would take a ridiculous amount of effort, but hey, maybe acediez wants to or something.

Actually, speaking of the Legacy Collection, I wondered if it was possible to implement the 2 new tracks that were added in X6, the opening and ending specifically: